'DOT free' campaign goes online

By: R JayshankarOn: Wednesday August 3,
1994

COMPUTER BUFFS from all
over the country have decided to form a Forum for Rights to
Electronic Expression (FREE) to “preserve and enhance the
fundamental rights in the electronic domain and to protect the
freedom of expression in cyberspace.”

In an open letter to
the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the forum said the Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) monopoly of satellite and international
communications was unacceptable and suggested that the DoT’s
regulatory functions be separated from the supervisory role.
Interconnection of data communication networks is a must for
communications to catch up in India, it said.

It has also requested
the DoT to encourage high-volume use of the telecom network and
abolish the licence fee for tax and modem and value-added services.

“Regulatory authority
and service provision must be separated, if a serious conflict of
interest is to be avoided. DoT’s track record in either field is
hardly encouraging: interminable delays, poor quality and rampant
inefficiency and corruption characterize telecom across the country,”
the letter said.

The forum said that if
telecom in India is to become an asset in India’s economic growth
rather than the liability, the opening up of international
communications arena to private companies was needed.

At present calls beyond
a certain minimum are charged at a higher rate, fax and data users
are charged high initial setup costs and extra annual tarrifs. The
world over, high-volume users benefit from incentives and special
schemes designed to encourage high-volume use. The contrary approach
in Indian telecom can only slow the development of the network the
letter said.

“FAX and modem users
are a large source of income for the DoT, as well as the more
technologically advanced users of the network. Placing hinderances
in their path is counterproductive and will only discourage the use
of new technology in the country,” it noted.

Arguing for
interconnection of networks, FREE said that for instance, an
electronic mail from a user in Delhi to another user who is also in
Delhi cannot be send on the network of the same E-mail provider, but
would have to be said via the United States. “The DoT must
encourage co-operative interconnection of networks. It is good for
everybody and it builds infrastructure at no cost to the DoT.”

On the licence fee the
forum said that when value-added services do not demand any extra
infrastructure from the DoT, or receive any spec

The forum said that it
was high time that DoT thought of amending the Indian Telegraph Act.
“The Act was is better suited to the needs of an imperialistic
power than to those of a free society. Its provisions deal with
poles and ‘telegraphs’, not modems, satellites and optical
technologies.

The letter said
individuals and organizations must be allowed unhampered access to
the nation’s communications infrastructure without discrimination
and data communications infrastructure and services in the country.

The forum argued that
citizens are fully capable of self regulation, and do not need
Government bodies to monitor or censor electronic communications –
for instance, the self regulatory, open nature of the world’s two
most successful global public networks, Fidonet and the Internet.

The experts in the
forum said in the letter that amateur datacom enthusiasts and
hobbyists play a vital role in pushing the limits of technology,
making it more user-friendly and making it available to the wider
public. “They, therefore, should be encouraged.”

“In discussions
relating to such issues, FREE will seek to oppose those policies or
practices of the Government that development, including the
imposition of arbitrary taxes or fees, and excessive rates and
tarrifs.

“To enable and
promote detailed discussion of subjects that fall within the above
ambit, FREE forum have been set up on electronic bulletin boards
services (BBS’s) in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and other
cities.

These bulletin boards
are electronically interlinked, so that any message posted to a FREE
forum in one city is automatically copied to the FREE forum on BBS’s
in all other linked cities. “All FREE published documents are a
result of a consensus among its members arrived at through his
process of discussion,” the letter stated.

There are over 10000
users of the bulletin board service all over the country.